We are not going to take it any more: fighting for the CBC

In
Canada jaw-jaw about the plight of the national broadcaster, CBC*, is
giving way to war-war as some prepare to mount the barricades.
Jeffrey Dvorkin, on behalf of PBC21 -- Public Broadcasting in Canada
for the 21st
Century – presents a back to square-one manifesto.

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The
CBC has learned to live in a defensive crouch due to repeated
assaults on its budgets and accusations from partisans that it is a
nest of lefties (on the English-language side) and Quebec
secessionists (on the French-language side). Since the 1980s,
programming values have been blanched on the premise that being
inoffensive, especially in News and Current Affairs, is the best
defence against the critics. Popular programs – many just a
Canadian version of down-market British shows – have been
marginally successful but have not built a core audience of loyal CBC
supporters.

Now
that the budgetary axe is being whetted once again, what can be done?

Our
group known as PBC21 – Public Broadcasting in Canada for the 21st
Century has decided that nothing short of a radical re-invention of
the CBC is the only

way.

As
such we have proposed:

The
complete de-commercialisation of the CBC.

A
7% tax on cable distribution profits as recompense for ceding
advertising revenues to the private sector.

That
the federal government still has an obligation to support the public
broadcaster both financially and ethically.

That
public broadcasting programming must regard the audience as citizens
first, and consumers of media second.

To
understand how distinctiveness in public broadcasting is an
essential aspect of service.

That
excellence is not elitism.

To
serve informed audiences for an enhanced democracy is still the goal
of the public broadcaster.

We
may yet be more radical. What if a public broadcaster serves its
audience best by not broadcasting? In effect, putting all content on
line, which is where the audience is going?

In
Canada, with its vast geography, distribution costs are enormous –
around $200 million per annum. Going off air and on line may be the
way of the future, even if that future is difficult to envision right
now.

But
with the survival of public broadcasting in Canada finally under the
existential knife, what is there to lose that we are not already
losing by attrition and increased public indifference?

As
the great French revolutionary said: “L’audace, l’audace!
Toujours, l’audace!” A perfect motto for these parlous times,
indeed.

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